Clean as a Whistle

Paige is certainly known for making messes.  At long last, she is also becoming known for wanting to be clean.  Only now she's taking it to extremes.  I'm pretty sure she'd park herself in the shower for the entire day, if we wouldn't run out of hot water.

She'd already had one shower this morning, but after making a big mess with some rice for lunch, I agreed to let her have another one.  I was busy folding clothes in the next room while she showered and would just peek in on her every few minutes.  On one of my check-ins, I opened the curtain to see her sitting on the floor, with my brand new bottle of body wash, squirting it directly down the drain.  From the looks of things, she'd already finished Cory's off and had moved on to mine.  It was half gone, but at least I caught her before she finished it completely off. :)

I got that straightened out, and then the next time I checked in, she had (oh, I shudder to even write it!!!) the toilet brush in the shower with her.  The brush was laying to the side and she was filling the base with water.  The brush is fairly new.  But its not brand new.  I mean, we use it to clean the toilet.  I think this is a case where ignorance is bliss.  I'm hoping I'm better off not knowing what exactly happened with that toilet brush. :)

After that, I got her out and let her sit on the chair in my room for a minute, because she likes snuggling for a little before he gets dressed.

But I think she was worn out. :)

And she is most definitely a princess.

School Daze

Elise and Ian started a day before Merry Grace, but this was the first day sending all three kids to school.

We've started out with a great routine and are on a great schedule.  I hope we can all keep it up. :)  So after a yummy breakfast, lunches packed, scriptures read, teeth brushed, prayers said, and a hundred and one other things, we were ready for pictures and to head out the door.

Merry Grace's first day outfit.  Yes, she decided on this outfit herself.  I was a little iffy on the shorts, but as I get older, the less of a deal I want to make out of things. :)  She also got her nails painted the night before, which she is proudly showing off.  Definitely the cutest kindergartner I know! :)

 

And while we were busy getting kids readied for school and no one was looking, this little sweetheart snagged a banana cupcake, and promptly sat down for an after breakfast snack.

And the whole cute little family. :)  (And Paige's cupcake, which she wouldn't put down for love nor money. :))

So far they have started off to a great year.  Elise was a little disappointed when she got her teacher assignment, having wanted another teacher instead.  We met her at the open house and on the way out, Elise said, "Did you see how neat her room was?  She keeps everything nice and organized!!!"  That is Elise for the world, so I think this teacher is a perfect match, and Elise thinks so, too.  After the first day of school, she came home raving about her teacher's love of orderliness.  It makes me smile.  I sure love that girl! :)

Ian has a really nice teacher, and I think he's going to have a great year, too.  He did sneak a toy with him to school today.  But, he said, he didn't take it out of his backpack at all and didn't show it to anyone.  :)

Merry Grace was so excited this morning.  Cory couldn't hardly get out the door fast enough for her.  She did great on her first day and I hope she has a great Kindergarten year. :)  She has the same teacher and assistant that Ian did and we love them both, so I think she's going to have a wonderful time.

That just leaves Paige and I home during the day.  And my niece, Ella, who I'm keeping during the day this year.

Can you honestly resist that face?!  I sure can't. :)

Here's to a great year!

Freedom

The kids enjoyed every minute of their last day of freedom before the start of school.

They watched a little TV and spent a lot of time playing outside.  Two things that they won't have as much time for once school begins.  And were super cute for 100% of the time. :)

Before bed, they got out their two way radios, their "spy gear" on and played spy for a while.  I love their imaginations.  A couple of times I took a "hostage" with the promise to release them if they'd pick up their toys or brush their teeth.  So, so cute.

And then they got a good night's sleep and were ready for the start of a great school year!

Weekend Trip

My parents were kind enough to watch the kids overnight for us, so Cory & I could sneak away for a day.  Since the school year is starting and we're getting back to our routine, it was nice to have a little time to rest and rejuvenate before getting back in the swing of things. We stayed in an adorable bed and breakfast with a wonderful view.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  We went out for dinner that night and had a piece of peanut butter pie for dessert that was to die for.  The next morning they served us a home-cooked breakfast on the deck of the B&B, overlooking the mountain.  It was wonderful!  

 After checking out, we canoed down a river not far away.  Obviously no pictures from the river, but here's one before we got on.  Even though the river was down, we didn't scrape bottom too many times.  The river was nice, quiet and peaceful and it was fun to work together as a team, as we worked our way down the river.

After canoeing, we got take-out from one of our favorite restaurants and went to a near-by park to eat it.  It was really nice--so quiet and relaxing and lots of good conversation.

We definitely came back feeling refreshed and so grateful for a little time for just us. :)

 

While we were gone, my parents let the kids do lots of fun things, like making "recipes" out of whatever items are on hand.  Delish! ;)

 

And they also helped them make their own puppets and put on a puppet show.  It looks like they had just as much fun as Cory & I did.

And now, back to reality. :)

Birthdays and Anniversaries

August is a celebratory month for us.  We have Cory's birthday right at the beginning and just a few days later, our anniversary.

For Cory's birthday I made some of his favorite dishes--homemade tortilla chips, fresh salsa, avocado salsa, and fajitas--and a white chocolate cheesecake with blackberry topping for dessert.  He definitely chose a yummy menu! :)

Way back when we celebrated Elise's birthday, I had bought these cute, really tall candles that almost had a tie-dye look to them.  You might remember them from THIS post, where the wind blew them out before Elise could. :)

Since the party was at the park, half the candles were covered in cheesecake, and I had so many things and people to try and see about, I wasn't going to save the candles, even though they were cute.  My dad wanted to know if he could take them and, of course, I agreed.

Then a few weeks ago we were at my parents house and they were cleaning out some of their things.  They had a mock "yard sale" just for the family, to take some of the items they were getting rid of if we wanted them.  My kids thought this was the greatest thing ever.  We all got some things that we considered treasures. But the kids also picked up a few things that I either vetoed or just rolled my eyes at.   (The funniest thing that Ian chose was a money management course--books and CD's.  I told him he'd have to wait until he could either read better or had any money to manage before I'd let him bring it home. :))  Anyway, one of the things that Merry Grace brought home was a ziploc bag of candles--those same tall, tie-dye candles from Elise's birthday.  I'll admit it.  I rolled my eyes.

Just a couple of days later we were celebrating Cory's birthday.  I'd bought 2 packs of candles that very day so that he'd be able to have 34 candles on his cake.  Everyone was gathered round and I was searching the house over for those candles.  They were nowhere to be found.  I finally decided (after a ridiculous amount of time scouring the kitchen) that I must have thrown them away in the grocery bag by accident.

In our family its tradition to blow out the correct number of candles, so I was getting frustrated by this obstacle.  Then someone mentioned the candles that Merry Grace had gotten from Grammy and Papa's house.  Unfortunately, there were not enough and some were broken.  But, since they were really tall candles, we cut them in half  or where they were broken and lo, and behold!  We had the 34 candles we needed.

And I think those candles worked out perfectly.  

We had a great time celebrating 34 years of this wonderful guy being on the Earth and a just a few days later celebrating 12 years of our life together.

In some ways it feels like we just got married yesterday and in other ways it feels like we've always been married.  Such an interesting mix of "just now" and "forever" all at the same time.  Either way, I'm so grateful for this man.  Our lives are blessed because he is a part of them.

Boys and Girls

I grew up with all brothers, but am raising mostly daughters.  Its interesting to see the differences in those households and the way girls and boys think and act.

Last night was a perfect example.

My brother, Logan, let out a burp that just about shook the walls.  Immediately, Elise said, "Eeewwww!!! That's disgusting!!!"  At the same time, Ian chimed in with, "Cool!  How did you do that!"

I love it. :)

Shall We Gather at the River?

While visiting my parents one weekend this summer, we went down to the river and spent a little time playing. It was hot and the water was so nice and cool, without being ice cold.  

It was really fun having one of our favorite cousins with us!  So glad you got to be there with us, Hannah! :)

 Elise played "Peek-a-Boo" with Ella, who had  her first taste of the river.

 Nothing can possibly go wrong with this idea, right? :)

Oh, how we love those uncles. :)

And, thanks to the Uncles, we also had this super fun river race.
Or something like that.

There was a spot up the river where the water came up almost over our heads.  It was a fun little place to swim a little.

Merry Grace collected a lot of beautiful leaves she found floating in the river.

And what would an adventure be without a little mud?  I can't even imagine. :)

When its this hot outside, if there's not water involved, its best to just stay inside. 

After we'd played a while, it began to get cloudy and the next thing we knew it started pouring down rain.  We packed up as quickly as we could and got to the car.  But we were already wet and the rain just added to our fun memories of the day.

It reminded me of a tubing trip we took when I was a teenager.  We used to tube quite a bit as a family and always had lots of fun.  One trip we went on was a little bit longer trip anyway, and right in the middle of the trip, it came a downpour.  Thunder, lightning, torrential rain.  And the river was basically at a standstill.  It was like we weren't even moving.  Pretty soon, we were very wet, very cold and very ready to get to the end of the route.  We were paddling with our arms to do anything we could to keep moving toward the end. It was the longest tubing trip ever.  And the least fun.  But it was something that we laughed about, a little bit at the time and a lot later.  And now it brings back fun memories. :)

More Beach Times

We made another trip to the beach last week with our little family and my brother, Logan.  Although Logan is not so much of a beach bum (a direct quote might have been, "I hate the beach."), but he's a lot of fun to have around and was a great sport.

Part of what makes Logan fun, is that he'll tackle projects that us parentals are too tire to attempt.  Like this giant hole in the sand.

Here is the hole in its early stages.  Even at this point its fun for the kids.   

 Elise loves being in the waves.  The waves weren't too strong when we first got there and we had fun playing in them.

You can see, the hole is getting bigger.  And its still fun. :)

And that face.  I love it. :)

 And even deeper.  He dug down until he hit water. :)

 Love this boy. :)

Why is snacking at the beach so much fun? :)

 More fun with Logan's hard work.  It was quite impressive.

And then the tide came in and washed away much of Logan's work.  But it still left a fun little swimming pool for the kids to play in.  Which was just as fun.

 Later in the day the waves got stronger and stronger.  After a while, they were just too powerful to be fun.  So we spent the rest of the afternoon on the shore and in the shallow water.

 Super Kids.

 You gotta watch out for Logan. :)

 Ian skipped sea shells in one of the pools the tide left behind.

 My Love. <3

 A bird and the waves.  It is just so beautiful!

 Cuteness. :)

 Oh My. :)

 Ian scooted his head around in this little tide pool like vacuum cleaner.  What an imagination. :)

My favorite little brother named Logan. :)  

I think the hot weather is getting to us all, but after another perfect day at the beach, I'm definitely not ready to say good-bye to summer just yet.